LAHORE, Sept 5: The University of Health Sciences will annually charge the affiliated private medical colleges 10 per cent of the fees collected from students in addition to Rs1 million that each of the colleges would be required to contribute to its endowment fund for each discipline.
Similarly, public sector institutions will be required to pay the university 10 per cent of the receipts collected on account of the self-supporting scheme.
The UHS has already sent its “Rules for the affiliation of medical institutions with the UHS” to public and private medical colleges, asking them to sign affidavits that they would fulfil all the requirements. Copies of the rules have been issued on plain paper instead of the university letterhead.
The rules say that the UHS affiliation committee will inspect an institution on payment of Rs35,000 as the affiliation fee for each discipline. The rules further say: “The committee will inspect the affiliated institutions annually. Any shortcoming or deficiency observed by the university and conveyed to the affiliated institution for rectification will be subject to further inspection within six months from the date of intimation. The fee of Rs35,000 will be paid by the institution for each inspection.”
Furthermore, the rules say, private medical institutions will submit financial statements indicating the existing and likely revenue sources, especially the investments made by the owners/proprietors. Financial statements will also reflect the expenditure already incurred on establishing infrastructure for the institutions and that likely to be incurred during the operation of the institution. “The medical institutions must be financially viable to the satisfaction of the university authorities as judged by the affiliation committee.”
When contacted, the UHS affiliation committee chairman, Prof Dr Sibtul Hasnain, who is also principal of the Allama Iqbal Medical College/Jinnah Hospital, said the university had imposed all these financial obligations on private medical colleges to protect students and guarantee them that fees would be refunded if a certain college closed down. He said that these rules would also ensure financial viability of private medical institutions.
About charging 10 per cent of the fee receipts of private colleges on an annual basis, Prof Hasnain said the amount would be charged because the UHS would hold their students’ examinations, monitor their standards, conduct periodic re-inspections and provide guidelines. “Due to these charges, the UHS has lowered its examination admission fee to Rs1,500 against Rs2,500 being charged by the Punjab University.”
About the Endowment Fund, he said the UHS would handle the fund. He, however, said that he did not know about the modalities of the Endowment Fund interest and its use.
Answering a question about issuance of copies of affiliation rules on plain paper, he said that he did not know anything about it.
Prof Hasnain said that when an institution applied for affiliation, it would be required to fulfil all the requirements and submit affidavits for the purpose. He also claimed that 18 private sector institutions had so far applied for affiliation from all over the province.
When contacted, some private medical colleges’ management officials told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the affiliation rules involving huge financial implications would multiply the cost of education. They said the private medical institutions would be forced to charge students higher fees.
